Video Game Review #532: The Terminator

The Terminator

Sega Genesis

Nostalgia Factor:

I remember renting this game from Blockbuster Video back in the 1990s. I do not remember much about the game, other than staying up late at night and spending hours and hours on the very first level, struggling to make my way through it. Once I made it through the first level, the rest of the game was cake. What else do I remember about the game? The way Kyle Reese's coat was animated. I remember thinking that was pretty cool for the time. That's it. That's all I remember.

Let's say I played this in 1994. That would mean that 30 years have passed since my last playthrough of the game. How would it hold up after all that time? That's what we are here to find out.

Story:

This game follows the events of the movie fairly well. It starts in the future. You are Kyle Reese, and you have to battle through a bunch of Terminators until you reach the time machine that takes you back to the 1980s. That's the first level. Once you arrive in the past, you battle through some police officers in your new trench coat until you save Sarah from the Terminator in the Tech Noir bar. That's the second level.

The next level consists of gunning your way through the police station as you attempt to rescue Sarah from the Terminator's assault. The final level has you battling the Terminator in a factory. You have to lure the Terminator into the crusher to defeat it once and for all. Do so, and the game is over. That's right, the game is only four levels long.

Before we continue, I always found it interesting that you play as Kyle Reese, and he survives the events of the game - but then during the ending sequence it says he is dead. Why? How? When?

Gameplay:

This is a pretty simple run and gun game. As I mentioned before - the first level is very difficult. Oddly, everything gets pretty easy from there on out. What makes this game frustrating at times is that you only have one life to beat the entire game. You die even ONE time and it is game over and you have to start from the beginning. Luckily - the game is very short with its four stages.

What makes the first level so difficult is your crappy weapon. You start with an unlimited supply of grenades. You have to throw them at your enemies, but they arc into the air and can make it difficult to hit what you are aiming for. It's not just a straight line throw. At one point, you have to enter a tight bunker, where Terminators come at you from all directions. You have to duck and throw your grenades, otherwise they go sailing over the enemies' heads or they hit the ceiling. It also takes two or three grenades to kill each Terminator, and you throw very slowly. They also spawn endlessly. Who thought this was a good idea? Luckily health items are very plentiful in this game.

You can pick up a machine gun fairly quickly once you start exploring the underground bunker. This machine gun mows down Terminators and takes them out in no time. There are several difficulty stages in the game. I played through this twice, the first time on normal. Apparently if you play it on easy, you get the machine gun right away when you go down in the bunker. If you play it on a higher difficulty, you find it after defeating a mini boss. I also played on super hard difficulty, and I didn't think it was much harder than normal.

At the end of the first level, there is a mounted machine gun that kills you automatically if you are hit by it. It blocks you from reaching the level exit. It took me forever to figure out how to get by it, but apparently there are some tanks filled with gold liquid that you have to blow up before it will let you pass. I must have walked past them a dozen times and just thought they were part of the background decorations. Oh well.

Once you get through the first level, it is smooth sailing. The rest of the game essentially consists of sticking to a straightforward path, shooting thugs and cops with your shotgun. Make it to the end of the level, and you move onto the next one. You can't kill police officers in the game, you can only knock them down. After a few seconds they get back up and start chasing you again. Occasionally you encounter the Terminator. You have to knock him down three times, at which point he starts flashing and you can run past him.

In the final stage, the Terminator chases you through an industrial factory. Shoot him and he just goes flying offscreen, which is kind of comical. He appears a few seconds later and starts chasing you again. All you have to do is fend him off while you make it to the crusher. Once he tries to pass through it, it drops down and destroys him. The only real challenge from this level is running into a dead end. At a certain point, the Terminator breaks in half and starts chasing you. You can't shoot him anymore, even when you duck and shoot, because he is too low to the ground. You also can't jump over him. So if you let him corner you in a dead end, it is game over and you have to start the ENTIRE game over again. Thank god for save states. I was able to beat this game as a kid through trial and error, but nowadays I just don't have time to be playing through this whole game over and over again like that.

Graphics:

This is not an ugly game, but I've seen much better on the Sega Genesis. It's serviceable looking, but I wouldn't go much farther than that. There's nothing special visually about this title. Except for Kyle Reeses's sweet white trench coat. Can't forget that. If you have played the Sega CD version of the Terminator (which is a completely different game), it looks MUCH better than this.

I have to say I like the little story sequences in-between the game's stages. They look nice and move things along quickly. The Terminator himself also looks pretty good when he appears. Otherwise, be prepared to see the same recycled police officer and thug enemy types over and over again.

Sound:

The intro music is great, with a Genesis rendition of the classic Terminator music. The rest of the game? Nothing memorable. It reminds me of the music in the Jurassic Park game for the Genesis, but not as good. Similar quality, though.

As far as the sound effects, again there is nothing special to be found here. I like the sound of the shotgun. That's all that stands out to me, though.

Overall:

This is an okay game. I enjoyed playing it, but I'm not going to lie and say it was amazing or anything like that. It's a quick playthrough that does not have much substance to it. If I had gotten this as a present when I was a kid, I would have liked it at first. But once I beat it, I would not have had much of a reason to come back to it very often. It is very short and a bit forgettable. I probably would have traded it in for a new game. That said, it was perfect for a weekend rental.

I'm glad I played this game, but I do not see much reason to return to it in the future. It gets the old C+ for me. Slightly above average.

THE GRADE:

C+

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